Baga language


Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the phrase bae raka 'people of the seaside'. Most Baga are bilingual in the Mande language Susu, the official regional language. Two ethnically Baga communities, Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their language altogether in favour of Susu.

Varieties

The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be considered different languages. They are:
The extinct Baga Kaloum and Baga Sobané peoples spoken Koga and Sitemu, respectively.
Neighboring Baga Pokur is not closely related.

Geographical distribution

Geographical distribution of Baga varieties, listed from north to south, by Fields-Black :
Baga has prefixes for eight noun classes:
Variety12345678
Baga Madurio- or nonea-a-i-kə-da-cə-sə-
Bagu Sitemuwi- or nonea-a-nonekə-da-cə-sə-
Baga Kobai-a-a-ɛ-kə-da-cə-sə-

Vocabulary

All these are from Baga Maduri: